It depends on the sport, just like any other sports town. It's the best basketball town in the country, and one of the best baseball towns. It's a so so football town, and a crappy hockey town. I guarantee you won't find any town that supports all 4 sports at a high level

Then its not a great sports town. Its not even the best basketball town in the NBA. A great sports town isnt just being a good baseball city. There are plenty of great sports town (where 4 sports are covered/supported well): Philly, Boston, DC, Chicago, Seattle to name a few.

Then its not a great sports town. Its not even the best basketball town in the NBA. A great sports town isnt just being a good baseball city. There are plenty of great sports town (where 4 sports are covered/supported well): Philly, Boston, DC, Chicago, Seattle to name a few.

Philly's a crap basketball town, and a so so baseball town. Boston didn't care about football until Brady. DC drove 2 baseball teams out of town before the Nats, have never supported the Wizards with any great enthusiasm, and have just started supporting the Caps with Ovie. Chicago is pretty good, I'll give you that one. Seattle lost their NBA team (I know the owners and arena were an issue, but that would NEVER happen in NY), and Safeco is empty half the time. I'm not saying the NY media is great, but the idea that it's not a big time sports town is asinine, despite how bad a hockey town it is.

And look at ticket sales before you say it's not the best basketball town: the Knicks are the toughest tickets in the country, the Nets are a sold draw despite being second fiddle, visiting teams and press all comment on the atmosphere at the Garden, etc.

While I'm not overly impressed with NY football fans, at least compared to some place like Dallas, the Giants are one of the toughest tickets to get in the country, and the Jets have a die hard core, despite years of ineptitude and overpriced tickets to boot.

You can ream the media all you want (I certainly have), but making sweeping assertions about an entire city's sports culture based on the media's poor coverage of one sport is just stupid.

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Sumus Legio
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I think the only thing I can think of that would go against this theory is that sums of that amount of money need to be declared, especially if coming from Russia of all places. A transaction like that would make its way to the public eye, and we all know how damaging that would be to our franchise if that became known, might even be illegal/tampering/circumvention.

Not if it is split up into many mini-payments / or represented via foreign assets that are then turned around and sold independently.

“It will be interesting. But we always find ways, especially when we’re in this kind of situation and people don’t see us doing anything. We always find a way to get it done,” he said. “When people say, ‘There’s no way now,’ it brings the best out of us for some reason. I think with the system we play, we’re going to be competitive. But it’s going to be hard.”

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I think the only thing I can think of that would go against this theory is that sums of that amount of money need to be declared, especially if coming from Russia of all places. A transaction like that would make its way to the public eye, and we all know how damaging that would be to our franchise if that became known, might even be illegal/tampering/circumvention.

You can't sell (or at least I can't think of any instance of it happening) export players and keeping it under the table would be even worse. The franchise would be taken from him.

Some Russians came up with that one on HF because all they understand is stupid money. First of all, a sale of a player for a high sum would be hockey related revenue, and if it wasn't, the PA would demand it be fairly quickly. So there goes half of it. I would also assume that the owners would have to take their cut. So you know 1/60th of your sale would potentially go to you.

It's just conspiracy theory and not particularly good at that. They could (can they still?) loan him to SKA, but sell him... especially under the table? No way. The NHL is so anal about centralized revenue that they were threatening to take the Rangers from Dolan over a web page working independently of their webring.

Philly's a crap basketball town, and a so so baseball town. Boston didn't care about football until Brady. DC drove 2 baseball teams out of town before the Nats, have never supported the Wizards with any great enthusiasm, and have just started supporting the Caps with Ovie. Chicago is pretty good, I'll give you that one. Seattle lost their NBA team (I know the owners and arena were an issue, but that would NEVER happen in NY), and Safeco is empty half the time. I'm not saying the NY media is great, but the idea that it's not a big time sports town is asinine, despite how bad a hockey town it is.

And look at ticket sales before you say it's not the best basketball town: the Knicks are the toughest tickets in the country, the Nets are a sold draw despite being second fiddle, visiting teams and press all comment on the atmosphere at the Garden, etc.

While I'm not overly impressed with NY football fans, at least compared to some place like Dallas, the Giants are one of the toughest tickets to get in the country, and the Jets have a die hard core, despite years of ineptitude and overpriced tickets to boot.

You can ream the media all you want (I certainly have), but making sweeping assertions about an entire city's sports culture based on the media's poor coverage of one sport is just stupid.

Look, don't get yourself so easily offended where throwing out names is the basis of your reply. I live here. What I said was absolutely true. I dont want to hijack the thread with a dissertation on sports culture in New York. People that live here know what I mean. There are plenty of cities that are better sports cities than NY, which is a vastly overrated sports city. And btw, your counter points on the other cities arent true.

Look, don't get yourself so easily offended where throwing out names is the basis of your reply. I live here. What I said was absolutely true. I dont want to hijack the thread with a dissertation on sports culture in New York. People that live here know what I mean. There are plenty of cities that are better sports cities than NY. And btw, your counter points on the other cities isn't true.

yes, they are. the patriots were a joke in new england until 1996. seattle is a rotten sports town, they support the seahawks and the MLS team but are bad otherwise. philadelphia and chicago are the only 4 sport cities i'd put over new york.

yes, they are. the patriots were a joke in new england until 1996. seattle is a rotten sports town, they support the seahawks and the MLS team but are bad otherwise. philadelphia and chicago are the only 4 sport cities i'd put over new york.

Seattle is a rotten sports town? Lol. You better have a really good Corsi to back that up otherwise you will look even more foolish. Safeco used to be packed when they were good, and their sports media is very good. The pats also stunk in the 90s so of course they were ignored. ..But that was 15 yes ago anyway. The discussion is about the media and interest level in these cities.

It depends on the sport, just like any other sports town. It's the best basketball town in the country, and one of the best baseball towns. It's a so so football town, and a crappy hockey town. I guarantee you won't find any town that supports all 4 sports at a high level

I disagree, sort of. It is very band-wagon when it comes to basketball. When the Knicks are good, they are the hottest ticket in town. When they are bad, you can get tickets on stubhub for $7. I know because a co-worker did it all the time in the years they were bad. Not sure how you call it a so-so football town. Giants had a waiting list of over 30 years before the PSLs. I was on it, they got through the list but when they called me (I had been on since 1989, I was only offered club seats. Would have cost me $23K the first season for a pair of tickets between the PSL and game tickets. As for baseball, seems like a great town because of the Yankees success. If you have a chance, go to baseball-reference.com, and look at the attendance numbers when the Mets and Yanks were not contenders. Not exactly impressive. I wouldn't call it a crappy hockey-town. The best hockey town in this country is Philly, at least when it comes to the NHL. Bruins are a big deal in Boston, but they were nothing for a few years when they struggled. I witnessed it when I went to a Rangers game in Boston. Pittsburgh is even worse. Went there 8 straight years for a game. Including the years between Lemieux's 2nd or 9th retirement and Crosby. If you just drove around, you wouldn't even of known the Pens were still playing in Pittsbugh. People didnt care about the Blackhawks in Chicago for a long time. Minnesota is a great hockey market, not sure about how great of an NHL market. Hard to judge Detroit as they have had a solid team for a very long time. Have a friend from Detroit. Her dad told me in the late 70s early 80s, nobody cared about Wings. Philadelphia has the passion always, at least from what I have seen. Plus, here we have 3 teams in the NHL and 9 pro teams among the 4 sports. While I do not think the NY metro area will ever be anything close to any of the Canadian markets, it can hold its own with the other big American markets in terms of hockey. Although, I agree about what you say about no market supporting all 4 leagues at a high level. I will contend NY-metro comes the closest.

Seattle is a rotten sports town? Lol. You better have a really good Corsi to back that up otherwise you will look even more foolish. Safeco used to be packed when they were good, and their sports media is very good. The pats also stunk in the 90s so of course they were ignored. ..But that was 15 yes ago anyway. The discussion is about the media and interest level in these cities.

Awesome, they support a whole 2.5 sports.

Safeco was also packed when the ballpark was new, which is what tends to happen with new ballparks.

Matteau: it's worth noting that Philadelphia has basically never been bad, hockey-wise. Slight bump in the early 90s but other than that they have been good all the time.

Then its not a great sports town. Its not even the best basketball town in the NBA. A great sports town isnt just being a good baseball city. There are plenty of great sports town (where 4 sports are covered/supported well): Philly, Boston, DC, Chicago, Seattle to name a few.

Philly- Eagles and Flyers, yes. Phillies are a new phenomenon. I remember when I was going to Atlantic City to play poker on a regular basis. From 98-2006 all I saw was Eagles and Flyers stuff. 2007, everyone had brand new phillies gear. As for the Sixers? When was the last time they sold out?

Boston: Pre-2001, Pats were invisible and have been there when the Celtics and Bruins were insignificant. I went to Boston for Rangers-Bruins in 2007. Got to the hotel, concierge said the Celtics had a game if I was interested. Don't follow basketball and asked him if it was easy to get tickets. He said, "Get tickets? If you have sneakers with you and you show up they might let you play."

DC-Pre-Ovechkin it was Redskins 24/7 365 days a year. Nobody else mattered.

Chicago- Bulls had a dead period after Jordan and the Blackhawks had a dead period.

Seattle-They lost their BBall team and never had a hockey team.

Point is, very hard for a market to support all 4 sports and when a team struggles, fans in most markets are pretty quick to disappear. ESPECIALLY, when they have other teams in the market who are contending.

Seattle is a rotten sports town? Lol. You better have a really good Corsi to back that up otherwise you will look even more foolish. Safeco used to be packed when they were good, and their sports media is very good. The pats also stunk in the 90s so of course they were ignored. ..But that was 15 yes ago anyway. The discussion is about the media and interest level in these cities.

when they were good....

Any market can be good when the team is winning. How do you judge the "media" and interest level from city to city? I listen to WFAN all the time, certainly don't judge the NY market on what I hear on the station. Francesa has a passion for baseball, same for Joe and Evan. Therefore, going to talk about it all year round. NY is a good sports town, much better than Seattle, Boston, DC. Only cities than can compare to NY are Chicago and Philly.

Matthau, those arguments all focus on attendance and cyclical drops due to performance. Every team goes thru down periods, so attendance isn't the main focus here. If it were solely on attendance then the ny rangers would be an extremely popular and well-covered club in ny (which it is not). You can put the circus in MSG on a full time basis and it would sell out. The main focus is on the media in these towns and the coverage those clubs receive. It's more a question of knowledgable sports fans and media. The average ny sports writer is like mike Francesca-only good on one or two sports.